Homemade Peanut Butter Cups – You’ll never buy them again!

I happened upon this treat by accident, or desperation this summer when my son was going to a pool party and needed to bring a snack to share. My first thought was brownies, then cake, then cookies and I went on down the list until I came up with something that would be really good but not make a lot of mess in the kitchen. So I took a standard peanut butter bar recipe and flipped it into peanut butter cups.

I was not prepared for the reaction.

Every speck was snatched up and I received text messages and even emails telling me how wonderful Mrs Jordan’s Homemade Peanut Butter Cups were.

I’ll be derned if it didn’t put a spring in my step! So I decided to bring them to you today in case you might need a little spring in your step, too. Because no matter what, I think you’re pretty wonderful!

You very well may have all of these ingredients on hand already. You’ll need Confectioner’s Sugar, Peanut Butter, Brown Sugar (dark or light), Vanilla, Butter (or margarine), and some Chocolate chips.

Place butter, peanut butter, and brown sugar in a large microwave safe bowl and microwave this for 1-2 minutes, or until everything is melted.

You can do this on the stovetop if you prefer.

Stir it until smooth and creamy, preferably with a little piggy spoon.

Add in your vanilla and stir that well.

Add in confectioner’s sugar and stir that up really well, too. At first, it will seem like it is going to be too dry but keep stirring and it will come together into a dough. If you find after stirring it that they are still a little dry, you can melt 1/4 cup more peanut butter and add to it BUT this is the exact recipe I use and I’ve never had to add more.

All ya need is a little faith, trust, and pixie dust!

Here is our dough.

Now take off pinches and roll it into balls.

Mine are about 1 – 1+1/2 inch balls. You can also make smaller ones and make mini peanut butter cups if you like.

Press the ball into the muffin paper with your fingers like this.

Repeat until all of the dough is used up.

This will make about 24 full sized peanut butter cups and a gazillion mini sized ones. I’m estimating on the quantity of the minis 😉

I don’t put chocolate on the bottom, only on the top. It is easier and you get more of that yummy peanut butter taste that way. A lot of folks will try to put chocolate on bottom and spread it up the sides to make these look like store bought but I think that when you take homemade treats and try to make them look store bought, you’re kind of demeaning them. When did we start to think store bought was best? That’s crazy! Give me a hand iced cake with bumps and ripples and a homemade peanut butter cup with no chocolate on the bottom any day of the week.

Pour about 2 cups of chocolate chips into a microwave safe bowl and nuke that for about a minute.

Stir. Nuke one minute more, or until it is all melted, and stir again.

Note: Make sure no water gets into your chocolate. Not even one little drop because it will cause it to clot something terrible.

I guess I should say microwave it. Nuclear phrases lose their dazzle when you live as close to nuclear plants as I do. Funny story about that (if you are a sadist)… When I was in middle school, it was tradition that each year the eighth graders got to go to Opryland for a day trip. This field trip was a grand send off, the culmination of our middle school years before we headed off to High School. Kids looked forward to it for the entire time they were at that school, beginning in kindergarten.

Then I got to eighth grade.

That year, that one year, they decided to do something different. Something more educational. Instead of the trip to Opryland, they took us on another field trip.

Two nuclear plants in one day.

Yes. We got to tour nuclear plants. Now this was back in those days when the threat of nuclear war was something every kid had nightmares about. It was the height of our generation’s Cold War and around the time The Day After was released. While all other eighth graders rode the Wabash Cannon Ball, we went in elevators down deep into the earth to rooms ensconced in gray concrete to listen to engineers explain how reactors worked – Twice.

Fascinating stuff, that.

Next year, they went back to the Opryland trip but by then I was already navigating the halls of an overtly cliquish high school while focusing my energies on feeble attempts to call upon my powers of invisibility.

Stir it up really well and you’re ready to top your peanut butter cups.

Top each cup with a good spoonful of chocolate.

Once you have a few topped, go ahead and spread it around.

I start by banging my muffin tin on the table a few times.

Then I use the back of my spoon to spread it the rest of the way. If you make a circular motion with your spoon it makes the tops pretty 🙂 Place these in the refrigerator once you have them all topped, until the chocolate hardens.

Store room temp (or fridge if you prefer) and try to eat within a week – which has never been a problem at my house 😉

This photo is from my friend Conni at The Foodie Army Wife. I took her some of these in this cute little box I happened to have and she posted this photo on her instagram. I immediately texted her and asked if I could use it for this post and she agreed. Thanks, Constance!

Christy,
I have added another cup and 1/2 of confectioners sugar and my mixture still is not the dry dough your’s is. I don’t get it. I double checked my measurements and had someone else check them too. What’s up with that? Does the butter, brown sugar, peanut butter mixture have to cool after you mix it up before you add the confectioner’s sugar?

I have been using your recipes for over two years and never had a problem like this before.

Also, I could find no place to click on to make a comment except to piggy back on someone else’s comment. diane

Ok, I gave up on this batch and put it in the freezer for ice cream topping. Started over. This time I chilled the mix before adding the powdered sugar and it has formed a dough consistency albeit kind of sticky and not dry at all. My 1st batch is in the fridge I made just a half batch and used mini cup p[ans. and you’re right on, it will make a godzillion of them even on a half batch. The only thing I can figure is it got too warm and just wouldn’t set up. Even with complete cooling though it is far from dry. Thanks for the recipe.

My daughter, Katie, was at the DI pool party where you brought these a few weeks ago and when I arrived to pick her up, I was lucky enough to get the LAST one!!! Oh my heavens, it was scrumptious!!!! I ate it slowly because I wanted it to last1 🙂 SO glad to have the recipe as Katie begged me to make them and now I can! Thank you!!

I may make a second batch using the Biscoff spread and put in a separate box to mail in case anyone has nut allergies. Which if anyone has nut allergies I bettered not go to the dorm as my daughter has always told me I’m a nut. At least she could laugh through life with a momma that’s a nut.

Love it! We’ve always referred to our family tree as the one producing the mixed nuts. I have two family members with dangerously severe allergies to peanuts and some tree nuts. For years, I’ve made loads of “peanut-free” treats for them at Christmas, so they wouldn’t have to miss out entirely on what others were enjoying. Sesame seed pralines, “pecan-less” pecan pie, peanut-less peanut butter cake, etc. A few years ago, I began making fake “Reese’s cups”, using a similar recipe to the one Christy posted (hers is better than my old recipe), but substituting sunflower seed butter (SunButter) or almond butter (Barney Butter) for the peanut butter. These brands are made in dedicated peanut-free facilities, so there’s no risk of cross-contamination with peanuts. There is also a new (to me, anyway) golden-pea-based “No-Nut Butter” I plan to try out soon. Any of these substitute well, volume-for-volume for the peanut butter in the candies.
I’ve called and tried to get allergy information from the Biskoff folks, without much success. The allergies are too severe to take any chances, so I haven’t tried the Biskoff as a peanut substitute.
Thanks, Christy, for yet another great recipe!

DIANE, I read my Biscoff jar and no where did it mention where it was made in a factory that also makes things made with nuts. The only allergies the jar noted was wheat and soy. The ingredient list did not contain any nut products. I hope this helps in some way.

Marsha – Thanks. You’re a love to take the time to offer feed-back. You deserve an explanation for my paranoia. A childhood experience taught me never to completely trust what the label says without checking further. In the days long before allergy warnings on labels, my brother almost died from eating a couple of plain m & m’s. No nuts or peanuts were listed in the ingredients, so my parents thought they would be safe for him to eat. Turns out, they were (and are, the warning now says) processed on the same machinery that is used to process peanut m & m’s. He had inadvertently gotten a bit of a peanut in his “plain” chocolate candy.
Biskoff is a brand of cookie (and now the delicious spread) based on a Belgian cookie called speculoos (Biskoff used to be imported from Belgium). Some traditional recipes for the cookies contain ground almonds or hazelnuts, and some are nut-free. When Biskoff first appeared in our little backwater, several years ago, I called the number on the label to find out if the cookies contained nuts or were processed on equipment shared with nut ingredients. They didn’t know, and didn’t offer to help me find out. I didn’t re-visit the issue. Your information tells me I should have, because the label information now is more complete. Odd fact side-note: Betty Crocker Butter Pecan cake mix contains NO pecans, peanuts, or other nuts, nor does it contain nut flavorings. Lorann oil-based “nut” flavorings don’t, either. Go figure.

Hey, I lived in the fiftues as a small child in the house of a news junkie, all sound ceased when the news was on the radio, the news was discussed by the adults, children sat in the corner and played quietly or listened to the speculation and sometimes graphic talk about what things might be like. That threat became less as the years went by, but you can’t say the cold war is over entirely, yes Regan mittigated it to a very large degree when the wall came down, but Russia is trying to build that back, and Iran has aspirations as well, so while a lot of it has gone, we are not totally home free and we should still worry. But take the good when it shows up, so go to Opryland, and make peanut butter cups and enjoy what we have, because while things can always be worse they can be better too.

Thanks Christy, I will make these for my husband, he will take them to work to share with his co-workers. Our family loves peanut butter and chocolate. I WILL BE COOKING DINNER FROM ONE OF your books. God bless.

YUM! Just made these and before anyone gets home I had to eat the 2 ugly ones of course (don’t want people talking bad about me……LOL) Now trying to figure out how to ugly up a couple more. Quick and delicious, thanks Christy!

Yes, we all need a pig in the kitchen. Mine is a refrigerator magnet my “fluffy” sister gave to me (since I was not “fluffy”) that reads “NEVER TRUST A SKINNY COOK”. She has since passed away, so that pig magnet is a constant reminder of her, and always makes me smile fondly.

This is my most requested “Christy Recipe”!! I use your recipe to make the Peanut Butter bars all the time. My co-workers fight over them and “scraping the pan”. The next time I think I will make them like this.

Christy,
I love your recipes and even more than your recipes I love your blog posts! My husband and I are moving to Athens after the first of the year after 26 years in Orlando, Fl and it’s really tugging on my heart to say goodbye to all the friends and church family I have here. But your posts always put a smile on my face and I decided that if the women in the Huntsville/Athens/Decatur area are half as funny and sweet as you are I’ll get along just fine!

These sound delish! However I put chocolate in the little paper cups then the peanut butter filing and more chocolate. Have done them for our allergy support group using Sunbutter and dairy free chocolate as i have alergies to both. Have a wonderful day!

Thanks to Marsha’s idea, I plan to make these and send to a sweet girl who just went off to college (full scholarship!) and whose family won’t be sending her things…it’s a pitiful situation, but some of us have kind of adopted her and try to help. Our ladies’ Bible class put notes and treats in their lockers during their senior year (at our little Christian school) and peanut butter cups were one of the favorites! (just didn’t have any homemade ones) I don’t doubt that these are far superior to store-bought. (I’m with you on that, Christy!)

Thanks for the recipe idea. I think I’ll try it in the mini muffin pan just for some yummy fun bites. And thanks for the fun story of your yesterdays…made me smile and remember our family trips to Operyland. We loved riding the Wabash Cannonball we’d get wet and then go ride the flying swings to dry off. ha fun times…makes me wanna go get my ole vacation picture albums out for a look see.

Christy! Thank you for the little sentence at the end of your blog today!! (I think you are pretty wonderful!) I was having a pretty bad morning and was walking that fine line between good attitude and bad attitude!! Then I read your sweet sentence and it pushed deep into ‘good attitude territory’!

I know it was my Father above reminding I had a choice and He used you to deliver His message!! Thank you for letting Him use you! I also believe you meant every word of it, too! Keep being a Light! Oh, there’s a key under the mat if you ever come to Colorado!

Hey, Christy! Thanks for the laughs you bring to me. I read some of your posts to my husband. We loved the one abou It’st touring the nuclear plants. This peanut butter cups recipe sounds wonderful! I love peanut butter. I could eat it straight from the jar, and sometimes I do (one scoop only, of course.) What a blessing you are! It’s so good to be in touch with you.

I remember in grade school everyone having to go out into the hall and getting on our knees and putting our heads down onto our knees during an atomic bomb drill – like that was going to save us! LOL! Things were so much simplier then. We never got to tour a nuclear plant tho – DARN! (Wink – Wink!) I made these at Christmas time for a gift basket for all the kids. (Also included your Amazing Apple Bread – the title says it all there!) Love your site – keep up the great work!

Thanks so much for sharing this recipe for these magnificent Peanut butter cups—you’re right, I will never buy store bought again!!! Everyone I shared them with loved them. First batch eaten – second batch in fridge . I haven’t ever had much luck making candy, but this was EASY!! Thanks again.

I made these for my husband to take on his annual guys trip, that he and his cousins take. I made these in the mini version, with milk chocolate since that was what I happened to have on hand. It made over 50, closer to 60, I think. Ther were gone in two days, he told me. The first of the treats I made. I also made your caramel puffed corn, which has become a staple…that was gone right after…only because he was hoarding it….LOL! Only one problem with these, now me husband doesn’t want regular store bought Reese’s cups anymore…now he only wants me to make these…just great! Serve’s me right for preaching to him about being more careful about what he puts into his body. I have been making his bread for sandwich etc…so I know what goes into etc, because there is too much other stuff in things nowadays, that doesn’t need to be in things, and if I make it, I know what’s in it….well, that has now back fired…because now his candy tastes better if I make it for him! LOL! Now, if I can get him to make it! Not! He said..it tastes better….if I do it…it’s made with love…what a con-artist!

Christy…
Wondering if these can be frozen? (re: chocolate visual quality–hazing?)… I need to make them about 2 weeks in advance due to time constraints/work schedule.

I have made them twice…. Are a giant hit & have been requested for my Relay for Life dessert raffle & a private party (another fundraiser) raffle. Used treat boxes ( available in the cake supply section of craft stores) & peeps were asking what confectionary they were from!!

On the consistency concern of some posters… I did modify the recipe since I am type II diabetic & have gone modified- paleo. I completely omitted the confectioners sugar… I added approx. 1/4 cup each almond flour & coconut flour, the 2nd has its own mild sweetness. A couple teaspoons of a baking stevia product will add the needed sweetness, but I like the natural nutty contrast to the chocolate. Both absorb excess liquids as they are coarse, mealy flours. I have used almond butter once & peanut butter the 2nd time–ground fresh at the market. Both were well- accepted.

Next time, I am using some premium chocolate bars (Lindt) for the toppings as well as dark, milk & white chips…
Thanks for this awesome recipe!!!

Made over the weekend. My granddaughter asked why she had never had any of these before as her eyes rolled back (13 yrs. old). I read all the comments and halved the recipe, put a dollop of chocolate in bottom as well as on top, used a melon baller to make the little pieces in mini cupcake papers bought at Black Friday. It really does make a lot, had 56 mini cups. Going to make some more with white, caramel, and peanut butter chips, Will make great gifts!